The only difficulty is on a saw with soft start and a brake. Braking torque is applied to the motor shaft. The blade's inertia works to loosen the nut. It was an issue for me only once and with a new saw. The arbor nut was apparently not fully torqued. After a few test cuts, I was left to wonder why the brake had suddenly "failed". I can see that becoming an issue in a very noisy shop. You might not hear the blade whirring as it slowly winds down on its own.
That's the way *all* circular saws are made.
On Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:21:32 +0000, Leon wrote (in article ):
True
my Elektra ( motor on operator's right) is a "lefty tighty, righty loosy" but my Chaiwanese Golden People's Democratic Happy Cutting Splendour, Most Safety is a conventional thread.. motor on operator's left. Both direct drive, obviously. Elektra has a 'ole through the back of the arbour to take a tommy bar and the Chaiwanese uses a two-wrench system.
Probably does not violate the cardinal rule for blades. Turn the nut the same direction as the blade turns to remove it
Which, of course, doesn't necessarily work for circular saws, depending on which side of the blade the motor is on.
Actually it does. Left blade saws use a reverse thread nut or bolt. Right blade saws use a regular threaded retainer. With both you tighten the bolt in the opposite direction that the blade spins.
This is a reply to all of you that responded to my original and subsequent post. I appreciate all comments, especially those discussing safety.
Now just a little background. I have been using this saw for many years (since 2001 I think) and after I moved to Vermont I started setting up my new shop. I had been using the table saw to build some benches for the wife' art studio. This included using a standard thin kerf and dado blades with no problems. There is no way to keep the from arbor rotating when tightening the arbor nut. (To tighten the arbor nut I must lock the blade with a piece of wood (per saw user guide) to keep it from rotating.)
I then started work on a workbench for the shop, used the standard blade, then changed to the dado blade (all OK so far) then changed back to the standard blade and the arbor nut would not tighten up! First thought I was having a senior moment and forgot how to mount the blade!!!! :-).
It kept slipping such that the entire arbor would rotate as I turned the nut. Now, to attach the blade, you put the blade on to the arbor, then add the blade collar, then the nut. The blade collar is "dome" shaped with the "inside" of the dome facing the blade. When the nut is tightened the blade collar compresses against the blade and holds the blade fast against the arbor.
After I cleaned the nut, collar and blade, the nut tightened up just fine. I have using the saw regularly since my post on 9 March with no problems.
I certainly scratched my head over this, as did my brother who is also a woodworker. Read, reread and rereread the user guide and then posted my original message.
I looked at the parts but did not see anything obvious that would cause the blade to slip. I thought the blade collar had maybe "lost" its compression strength and was going to buy a new one from Ridgid. Then I decided to just use a bit of sand paper to clean the surfaces (nothing to lose if it did not work).... and lo and behold the blade tightened up just fine. Carefully stood back and started the saw with no flying objects seen :-). Shut down the saw and checked blade tightness and all was good. Made some cuts and everything AOK!. I have been using the saw for a few weeks (changed blades several times) and still OK. Again, thanks to all who posted comments.
Marty
Marty wrote:
Marty
Thank you for posting this originally and for the solution of light sanding to the blade. The same exact thing happened to me just yesterday: I removed an 8" Dado stack and tried to reinstall my regular 10" single thin kerf blade (Diablo) on a Ridgid TS3650 table saw. The arbor kept slipping as I tried to tighten the nut so the blade wouldn't properly tighten. I bought the table saw used and it never came with the thin 7/8" (I think) wrench that you're supposed to use on the arbor collar in conjunction with the 1-1/16" arbor nut to tighten the blade. I had previously just used a block of wood against the teeth to un-tighten and gripping the blade with a glove to tighten up until now successfully for the past year or so since I got the saw.
In any case, I gave my blade a light sanding with 120 grit sandpaper and lo and behold it worked! The sanding of the blade provided enough friction with the blade collar that is connected to the arbor to make the blade stay put when tightening the arbor nut. I didn't sand the collar at all, just the blade was enough for me.
Anyway, cheers and thought I'd reply to this old thread in case anyone else has a similar issue. I've also ordered some thin wrenches on Amazon so I can tighten properly in the future!
Cheers Andrew
"When replying to old threads isn't a bad thing." Thanks.
...long tale of woe snipped for brevity...
More than likely just cleaning the sawdust out of arbor and nut threads thoroughly and a little lube would have solved the OP's problem...
If the nut won't turn to tighten the blade enough to hold by finger only, there's a problem there.
And most decent table saws allow an arbor wrench to be used along with the arbor nut wrench. You might look to see if the arbor flange has a spot to accept a wrench.
With the exception of diamond-drive circular saws. The diamond-drive system doesn't allow the blade vs. shaft rotation, so no self-tightening occurs. It makes those saws much easier to do blade removal (so lots of heavy duty types are designed that way).
Even if the arbor flange has flats, good luck finding a wrench that fits. It took ages to find one even for my Unisaur, When I did, I bought two.
You have to think outside the box. I had a similar issue, not with a TS but I needed a wrench, and it had to be thin. I bought an elcheapo chrome mechanics wrench from Northern tool and used a grinder to make the jaw narrow enough to fit the narrow slot. Narrow like the wrench that comes with the saw. AND that is assuming that the arbor flats are not terribly wide. But if the saw does have flats it is likely a normal wrench size.
This is true but you still have the issue of the arbor turning. Two wrenches allows you to not have to wedge something against the blade, on a TS. Not wedging something against the blade guards helps prevent bending the blade.
Yes most circular saws have arbor locks.
On 9/24/2020 8:00 AM, Leon wrote: ...
I've yet to see one... ???
A flat maybe, a lock is pretty rare.
--
So an update--the sanding solution worked initially, however once I swapped back to the dado stack and then tried to reinstall the single blade, I had the slippage occur again...Frustrating.
Fortunately, the thin wrench set I ordered from amazon arrived and I was able to use the 7/8" thin wrench on the arbor which held the arbor in place while I tightened the 1-1/16" arbor nut. This is what I ordered:
On 9/24/2020 10:20 AM, Andrew M wrote: ...
...
Something is wrong with the threads on either the nut or the arbor or they're still full of sawdust or old dried grease or something...
There should be no problem finger-tightening to the flange sufficiently...
It is an Acme thread isn't it?
Is it possible that you have an issue with the arbor itself? I can't explain why, but before I changed the arbor on my 70's vintage Craftsman TS (due to a chunky bearing) I used to get some slippage while tightening with the blade held still with a piece of wood. It wasn't slippage like it was still loose, it was more like soft jerk after it was tight like something was turning inside the arbor. (There is no provision for a second wrench on my saw.)
I had a spare arbor, so I decided to change the whole thing instead of just the bearings. Now when I tighten the arbor nut nothing slips and I feel that I could tighten it way more than I need to (but I don't).
I cleaned everything on the arbor/threads/nuts etc. No excess grease or sawdust and no deformed metal on the arbor nut that would cause it to lock into the arbor threads. From what I can tell the arbor threads seem fine. I can hand tighten the nut without any issue, It's just when I go to tighten with a wrench is there enough back-pressure on the threads to keep the nut and arbor spinning together. I'm not sure if they are acme or not, my eye isn't trained to tell the difference.
From what I can tell, the issue is simply that there is too little friction between:
Which is causing the washer, arbor nut and arbor to spin together in-sync. Meanwhile I'm holding the blade still but nothing tightens.
It's also possible there is too much friction between the arbor nut and the "washer," causing it to spin with the nut, but it doesn't look like there's any deformed metal causing it to catch in any way.
The saw originally came with the 7/8" arbor wrench to hold the arbor in place while you tighten the nut, so in theory using two wrenches is how the saw was designed to be tightened rather than just holding the blade. That wrench was just missing when I bought it used.
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